January 28, 2013

Interaction is what we're here to have. Synergetic exchange is what life is all about. And, we must not forget that Creation started from Solitude, for Solitude was not enough! Did you know that solitary confinement is one of the most severe punishments and some people would rather choose to die than face this punishment which crushes you from within.

So what do you have to do to have a continuous flourishing interaction with someone? You just need to have a great friendship! Having many friendships are welcome but just one deep friendship can bring you all the joys that come along with it.

Now you may ask, how do I go about having a true friendship? A true one, because obviously you've seen or heard about some fake ones!

Well, first and foremost you have to take the first step. You must be willing to expose who you are to someone. Yes, you have to allow others to know you before they can trust you. You need to come out in the open and express your mind and your feelings to someone, and see how the other reciprocates. Are they opening up to you or is something causing them to remain cold and closed towards you? If they remain closed despite every effort to make them comfortable, you must decide to move on, for if you cannot know a person, you cannot proceed to have a friendship with this person.

Knowing a person is the beginning of friendship, the beginning of developing mutual trust in each other. Showing that you stand for truth and seeing the other either standing along with you or giving it a miss. It doesn't matter if they give a miss to truth, for truth is also in showing your true colours and not in hiding them!

When you have told your stories, when you have expressed the principles you stand for, when you have shown your likes and your dislikes, and when all of these have been received with acceptance, it is then that you come to the deepening of friendship. It is then that you start to love your friend, for the friend accepts you as you are. Now, you want to go out of your way to spend time with your friend and you wish to come closer to each other and become like family. Your trust has now turned into love.

When you become like family you like to share your life like family too. You would like to go shopping together and help each other choose what you desire. You go for movies, dinner and even holidays together and enjoy each others company. Friendship becomes a companionship!

Then comes the difficult part, the test of strength of a friendship. A friendship is tested when you need your friends help; when you are down and you need your friend to help you with their effort, time or money, to bring you out of the doldrum you are in. A strong friendship is like Corelle ware, it doesn't break no matter how many times you use it, and a fragile friendship that's just there for show is like expensive China lying in a showcase for the fear of breaking it if you use it! So never be afraid to ask for help when you need it. If a friendship has to break, let it be now, for else it wasn't a true friendship. Every friendship blossoms when you use it in time of need and every life goes through a phase where you need help, sometimes even as an emergency! In fact, giving and receiving is the breath of friendship that keeps it alive and healthy!

If the friendship passes the test of strength, you develop faith in your friend. Faith that they will always be by your side in good times as well as in bad times. And, the more faith you develop the stronger your friendship becomes and you become eternally grateful to your friend.

When you express your gratefulness for the help you receive, your friendship matures. It ripens into what it was meant to be, a delicious fruit for existence! The fruit is when you return a favour done to you, with gratitude, in some form or the other. Existence thrives on interaction and existence longs for some form of exchange. So at the first opportunity, say a thank you, send a gift or just celebrate together in the joy of a strong friendship.

And, always remember, Existence is propelled by a loving relationship into an eternal journey of joy!

January 17, 2013

The Master was out shopping for his long cherished dream of owning and enjoying a S-Class Mercedes limousine. He took his disciple Tom along with him to the showroom, and as they reached, right in front of them stood the gleaming silver coloured car for the Master. The Master's eyes lit up and his face beamed with a smile as soon as he set his eyes on the car.

The disciple asked the Master, "Aren't Masters meant to renounce life and not have a passion for material things?" The Master asked Tom, "What would you wish to have if you had all the money in the world?" Tom thought for a while and remembered his childhood dream of owning and living in a huge mansion. Excitedly, he told the Master, "I would love to have a palace with huge gardens and many servants attending." The Master then told Tom that the child in us, is the heart in us! A child is born for a purpose and the child knows it's purpose. The childlike heart doesn't know how to calculate, it just wants its dreams to come true. Every child is a Master, for the child doesn't have a notion of scarcity, because a child knows intuitively that there is unconditional support from the father and the mother. So, a child's imagination is boundless and a child's desire to have toys to play with is strong. And, a child plays with toys not to win, but just for a spin!

So, awaken the child within you dear Tom, for only then will you have faith in your Father to support all your dreams so you can play, as I am about to with my new Mercedes. And, when I am fulfilled with this toy, I pray that I will have a desire for another toy so that I am always renewed with the freshness of a new desire and the fulfilment of a new toy!

"What is the next toy that you dream of Master", asked Tom gleefully. The Master replied with a confident smile, "A silver and black Bugatti Veyron. This will be the reward to myself after building the most beautiful as well as the tallest high rise in my country!"

The Master continued to impart his words of wisdom to Tom with a deep voice... Faith makes you a Master. Faith that you are supplied by an unending source; which is also your source, your Father and your comforter! Faith that your dream is also your Father's dream for you. Faith that at every step, even when there is not a single toy to play with, your abundant Father walks hand in hand with you. Faith that when you are hungry and there's no bread, you are sustained by the words that your Father whispers into your heart!

January 8, 2013

In a world of duality there will always be highs and lows; big and small; light and darkness. But, whenever there is a major dis-balance between any two opposites in this polarity, a 'storm' will occur in order to re-balance and restore harmony. A harmony that supports a purposeful and fulfilling sustenance of all life.

Cyclones, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, famine and epidemics occur naturally, as part of a complex and sometimes incomprehensible system, to cause us to rethink on the way we do things and renew the planet.

Man made storms like wars, revolutions, terror attacks and recessions occur either to cause a dis-balance or to re-balance the distribution of power and money in the world, and cause us to think and act in ways to secure ourselves.

Whatever may be the cause of a storm, they force us to become stronger and more intelligent to withstand them. So, rather than remain anxious for our lives, our survival instinct is prodded by the storm to think of ways to overcome these threatening monsters. Humans over many millennia have evolved in many ways, in the face of every kind of storm, by discovering scientific laws and technology to come up with different kinds solutions like stronger houses, more resistant crops, medicinal sciences to cure ailments, defence equipment, advanced communication systems for warnings, fast transportation systems to move away from threats, continuous ways of improving banking, making systems of governance more people oriented.

In order to withstand these storms we end up with other benefits like building technology that keeps you safe from other threats as well, by-products of defence technology applied to improving life in general, transportation that can bring you help really fast in case of emergencies, communication systems that help you stay connected with loved ones wherever they are, a higher yield of more nutritious crops, healthier ways of living, improvement of business systems, democratic systems trickling down to the grass root level.

In other words, storms are good. But, the most important point that has been missed while using our intelligence in politics, economics, medicine, science and technology is our inter-connectedness to everyone and everything- the human aspect of compassion for our fellow beings. The passion for power and money has to be increasingly balanced by our compassion for our planet and everything upon it.

We basically have to think of a more equal distribution of power and wealth, without losing the passion for improvement. The driving force within us has to be, to see more and more of us, including ourselves, satisfied. When we are able to exhibit the compassion of a mother towards her children, we would have got it! For, her children are her passion and her children have her compassion.

Since 2011, we have been seeing more than the usual natural storms and the storms of anger of dis-satisfied common people forcing Governments to think more compassionately or else be overthrown. Change is here, and these storms are an opportunity for all of us to use compassion as the prime driving force to evolve.

The new order beckons us to have an equal blend between survival and love; power and sharing. To be stronger, but softer as well.

The new age is seeking an active harmony in all things which sounds like pleasing music and feels like a gentle breeze...

Expand your Awareness

Dedication

About Me

After completing my post-graduate studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, I have been in the search for the true meaning of life and existence for more than 20 years. During this time I have attended and organised many life transforming programs and meditation workshops and have come to one major conclusion, that life on earth is about finding a near perfect balance between the Spiritual and the Material; between Love and Self-Love; Compassion and Passion; Giving and Receiving. Some yogic techniques; a relaxed, wise and intelligent mind; and a soft but strong heart, help you in approaching this balance.